Method, apparatus, and program product for multiple play bonus system

ABSTRACT

A gaming system provides a secondary game in which the outcome depends on the results from multiple instances of a primary game. The secondary game is associated with a particular structure that includes a number of separate locations. Each of the secondary game locations is linked to a particular instance of the primary game so that the results of a particular instance of the primary game determine the condition or state of a respective secondary game location. Additionally, each location in the secondary game structure makes up a certain component of a secondary game display. Players receive an award if a certain pattern is displayed in the secondary game structure based on the application of the multiple instances of the primary game to the secondary game structure.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to gaming and gaming systems. More particularly,the invention relates to a gaming system that provides players with theopportunity to participate in a bonus game related to multiple instancesof another game.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Wagering games are commonly played in a format in which one game playyields one result. The game known as “bingo” is an example of such asingle play-single result game. Bingo is played with predetermined bingocards that have designations, such as numbers, letters, or othersymbols, randomly arranged in a desired manner, commonly in a grid. Thebingo designations on the cards are selected from a pool of availabledesignations. In traditional bingo games, the cards are physicallyprinted on paper or other suitable material. These traditional printedcards are purchased by players prior to the start of a game. After abuy-in period in which players purchase bingo cards for a game,designations from the available pool of designations are selected atrandom. As the designations are selected and announced in the game, theplayers match the randomly selected designations with the designationsprinted on their respective card or cards. This matching and marking ofmatched designations on the bingo card is commonly referred to as“daubing” the card. The winner of the bingo game is the player firstproducing a predetermined winning pattern of matches between therandomly selected designations and the printed card designations on asingle card, and then announcing “bingo” to claim the win. Other playersmay also receive awards for achieving other predetermined patterns ofmatches in the course of the bingo game. In any case, each bingo card ina particular game is associated with a single result.

Bonus games are commonly used in gaming systems to provide a level ofplay in addition to the primary games. Some bonus games award bonusprizes that are based at least in part, on the results of the primarygame, while other bonus games award bonus prizes based on the outcome ofonly the bonus game. The bonus prize may take various forms, with somecommon examples including additional game play credits, a monetaryprize, or tangible items, such as jewelry. Regardless of the prizes thatmay be awarded in a bonus game, bonus games tend to add a certain amountof excitement to a gaming system and thus tend to increase playerparticipation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A gaming system according to the present invention provides a secondarygame having an outcome that depends on the results from multipleinstances of a primary game. The secondary game is associated with aparticular secondary game structure that includes a number of separatelocations. Each of these secondary game locations is linked to at leastone particular instance of the primary game. The result associated witheach instance of the primary game linked to a particular secondary gamelocation helps determine the state of that respective secondary gamelocation. Players may receive a bonus prize by producing some predefinedpattern or other arrangement of secondary game locations in thesecondary game structure. By basing the outcome of the bonus game onmultiple instances of the primary game, the secondary game encouragesplayers to participate in multiple instances of the primary game. Thesecondary game according to the present invention also adds a level ofexcitement to game play and helps enhance player interest in the gamingsystem.

One preferred method according to the present invention includesconducting a primary game multiple times to produce a number ofrespective primary game results. Each completed game play in the primarygame represents an instance of the primary game and produces a result inthe primary game. A result from a particular instance of the primarygame will be referred to throughout this disclosure and the accompanyingclaims as a “primary game result.” Each instance of the primary game islinked to a location in a secondary game structure. For example, thesecondary game structure may comprise a bingo card-type structure or anarrangement of reel symbol locations in a mechanical or video reel-typegame display. Regardless of the exact nature of the secondary displaystructure, the primary game result for at least one respective instanceof the primary game is applied to control the state of a respectivelocation in the secondary game structure. The states of the variouslocations in the secondary game structure correlate to the result forthe secondary game and may entitle a player to a bonus prize.

A gaming apparatus according to the present invention may include a gameprocessor and a player display. In one form of the invention, the gameprocessor receives a number of primary game results and applies thoseresults to control the state of locations in the secondary gamestructure to which the instances of the primary game are linked. Thegame processor also identifies a result in a secondary game correlatedwith the pattern in the secondary game structure produced by applyingthe various primary game results. The player display included in thisform of the invention is operatively connected to the game processor fordisplaying preferably the primary game results, the secondary gamestructure, and the secondary game result. The game processor maycomprise a general purpose data processing device the operates under thecontrol of operational program code to perform its various functions.

These and other advantages and features of the invention will beapparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments,considered along with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a high level diagrammatic representation of a bingo gamingsystem in which the present invention may be implemented.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of a computer system arrangementthat may be used for a central game server and local area serversincluded in the system shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic representation of an electronic player stationthat may be used in the system shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation illustrating process stepsembodying the principles of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a representation of a game graphic illustrating an embodimentof the invention in which the secondary game structure comprisesbingo-type game matrix.

FIG. 6 is a representation of a game graphic illustrating an embodimentof the invention in which the secondary game structure comprises anarrangement of reels similar to a reel-type game.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The claims at the end of this application set out novel features whichthe Applicant believes are characteristic of the invention. The variousadvantages and features of the invention together with preferred modesof use of the invention will best be understood by reference to thefollowing description of illustrative embodiments read in conjunctionwith the drawings introduced above.

The following description discusses the present invention as used in thecontext of a particular bingo gaming system disclosed in U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2004/0152499 A1 entitled “Method, System,and Program Product for Conducting Multiple Concurrent Bingo-TypeGames,” the entire content of which is incorporated herein by thisreference. Although the invention does have particular application tothe high-speed bingo gaming system set out in this published U.S. patentapplication, it will be appreciated that the invention is by no meanslimited to use in any particular bingo gaming system or to anyparticular primary game. Rather, the invention may be used to provide asecondary game for any type of game, including not only bingo games, butalso lottery-type games, and casino-type games such as reel-type gamesand video poker games.

FIG. 1 shows a gaming system 100 including a central game server (CGS)101 that cooperates with a number of other components to enable bingoplayers, preferably at many different remote gaming sites, toparticipate in bingo games. Each gaming site includes a local areaserver (LAS) 102 and a number of electronic player stations (EPSs) 103.As will be discussed in detail below, in the normal operation of gamingsystem 100, a player at any EPS 103 in the system may participate in agiven bingo game with players at any other EPSs 103 in the system. Thus,players at different gaming facilities may be grouped together for agiven bingo game administered through system 100. Grouping togetherplayers from different gaming facilities for the play of a bingo gameallows different bingo games to be played rapidly and minimizes the timethat players must wait to receive the result of their participation inthe bingo game, that is, the result for a given instance of the bingogame.

System 100 rapidly groups players and/or game play requests and startsone game after another so that multiple games may be in play at anygiven time. That is, once a first group of players or game play requestshas been assigned to a bingo game offered through system 100, the systemproceeds to simultaneously administer a bingo game for the first groupof players or game play requests and also begin grouping players or gameplay requests for a next bingo game. System 100 does not necessarilywait for one bingo game to be completed before starting to collectplayers or game play requests for, and actually beginning play in, thenext bingo game. The number of players or game play requests grouped forthe play of bingo games in the bingo gaming system may be limited toreduce the time required for grouping. For example, each bingo gameoffered through gaming system 100 shown in FIG. 1 may be limited tobetween 2 to 20 players or game play requests, with the preferred numberfor any given game being from 10 to 15. Where system 100 includesnumerous EPSs 103 at the various remote locations, on the order ofseveral thousand EPSs for example, hundreds of individual bingo gamesmay be in progress at any given time through the gaming system.

Since system 100 includes an arrangement for grouping players and/orgame play requests for the play of a bingo game to facilitate rapid gameplay, the system may dramatically reduce the time between a game playrequest at one of the EPSs 103 and the return of results to therespective EPS. The delay between the game play request and the returnof the bingo result may be reduced sufficiently to allow a great deal offlexibility in how results in the bingo game are displayed to theplayer. In particular, the primary game results may be displayed in somemanner unrelated to bingo. For example, the primary game results may bemapped to a display traditionally associated with a reel-type game, to adisplay relating to a card game, or to a display showing a race such asa horse or dog race, for example.

Regardless of the rapid play facilitated by system 100 and regardless ofthe manner in which the primary game results are displayed, eachinstance of the underlying primary game remains a standard bingo gameplayed in the traditional sequence of play for bingo games. That is,each player obtains or is assigned a bingo card representation, allbingo card representations in play in the game are daubed or checked formatches with a draw, and the first card in the game to match thesequence of designations to produce the game ending or winning patternrepresents the card that may win the bingo game, subject to any claimingaction required under the rules of the game. Additional prizes may beawarded for other patterns that may be produced in the course of thebingo game. Furthermore, instances of the bingo game, that is, plays inone or more bingo games conducted in system 100 may be applied to asecondary game according to the invention and may entitle the player toadditional, bonus prizes in addition to the prizes available in thebingo games.

It will be noted that in the bingo gaming system shown in FIG. 1 mayallow a player to make several plays in the gaming systemsimultaneously. That is, a player may make multiple simultaneous gameplay requests. Each request may be handled entirely independently by thebingo gaming system to produce a respective result. In particular, eachgame play request from a group of simultaneous game play requests, orgroup of game play requests entered in rapid succession, may be groupedin the same bingo game conducted through the system or different bingogames. Regardless of how gaming system 100 handles the individual gameplay requests, each game play request will be associated with a singlebingo game result and a respective instance of the bingo game.

As used in this disclosure, any sequence of designations that may bematched against bingo cards or card representations in the course of abingo game is referred to as a “draw” regardless of how the sequence isactually generated. Under this definition, it will be appreciated that adraw may be produced by a random number generator, a pseudo randomnumber generator, or any other suitable device or system, such as amanual, semi-automatic, or fully automatic physical ball draw device.

CGS 101 may comprise a computer system such as the basic system shown inFIG. 2. The basic system may include one or more processors 200,nonvolatile memory 201, volatile memory 202, a user interfacearrangement 203 for system operators, and a communications interface204, all connected to a system bus 205. It will be appreciated that userinterface arrangement 203 may include a number of different devices suchas a keyboard, a display, and a pointing device such as a mouse ortrackball for example, although not shown in FIG. 2. Alternatively tothe integrated user interface arrangement 203 shown in FIG. 2, a userinterface for CGS 101 may be provided through a separate computer (notshown) in communication with the CGS. Regardless of the particularconfiguration for CGS 101, in the normal operation of system 100 shownin FIG. 1, the CGS functions to group players for participation in bingogames offered through the system, produces or obtains sequences ofdesignations (ball draws, for example) for the play of the bingo games,identifies the results in the bingo games, and communicates the resultsto the EPSs 103 through LASs 102. In some embodiments of the presentinvention, the CGS 101 may also implement the functions of the gameprocessor as described below with reference to FIG. 4.

Each LAS 102 included in system 100 as shown in FIG. 1 may comprise acomputer system having the same basic structure as shown in FIG. 2. Thatis, each LAS 102 may include one or more processors 200, nonvolatilememory 201, volatile memory 202, user interface arrangement 203 forsystem operators, and communications interface 204 all connected tosystem bus 205. As with CGS 101, the user interface for the respectiveLAS 102 may be provided through a separate computer in communicationwith the LAS rather than the integrated user interface arrangement 203shown in FIG. 2. Regardless of the specific configuration of the LAS,each LAS serves, in normal operation of the system shown in FIG. 1, totransfer or relay information from its respective EPSs 103 to CGS 101and transfer or relay information from the CGS to the LAS's respectiveEPSs. Each LAS according to the present invention may also have theability to group players and actually play bingo games in certainsituations. For example, where one LAS 102 serves a large number of EPSs103, the LAS may group players or game play requests from its respectiveEPSs during a time of high player activity, obtain or produce a balldraw, identify results for bingo games, and return results to the EPSs103. Also, each LAS 102 shown in FIG. 1 may be configured to perform thetasks normally performed by CGS 101 in the event the communications linkbetween the respective LAS and CGS is degraded below a certain level oris severed altogether. In some forms of the invention, each LAS 102 mayimplement the functions of the game processor described below withreference to FIG. 4, either in normal operation of the system or duringtimes that communication with the CGS 101 is not available. It will benoted that when an LAS 102 performs the functions of the game processordescribed below, it will generally only perform those functions withrespect to the particular EPS's 103 with which the LAS is associated.

FIG. 3 shows an example of an EPS 103 that may be used as a playerinterface device in a gaming system that provides a secondary gameaccording to the present invention. The illustrated EPS 103 includes aprocessor 300, volatile memory 301, nonvolatile memory 302, and acommunications interface 303. The volatile and nonvolatile memory storescomputer program code that may be executed by processor 300 to cause theprocessor to perform or direct the various functions provided by EPS103. In particular, some forms of the invention may use processor 300 asa game processor for conducting secondary games according to the presentinvention. Communications interface 303 allows communications betweenEPS 103 and its respective LAS 102 and/or CGS 101. EPS 103 also includesa special user interface arrangement to facilitate player participationin the bingo games offered through gaming system 100 shown in FIG. 1,and display results in an exciting and attractive format. This interfaceincludes player controls 304, a display or touch screen display 305, asound system 306, and perhaps other features 307 such as alarms orspecial displays or alerting devices. Each EPS 103 also preferablyincludes a convenient system for allowing the player to inputplayer-specific information and for receiving wagers and dispensingwinnings. For example, the EPS 103 shown in FIG. 3 includes a playercard reader 308 that is adapted to read player-specific information froma player account card inserted into the reader. A player account cardmay, for example, include player information or simply a playeridentifier encoded on a magnetic medium (mag stripe) associated with thecard, or encoded on a bar code, or a memory device associated with theplayer card. The illustrated EPS 103 also includes a device 309 forreceiving value and issuing value in the course of play. This device mayaccept currency, vouchers, or tokens, for example, and also outputcurrency, vouchers, or tokens. Of course a separate device may be usedto receive and issue value for games played according to the presentinvention. Alternatively, or in addition to value in/out device 309,EPSs 103 may read player account information from the player card orplayer information otherwise input at the EPS, and account for wagersand winnings through a player account maintained in the system in themanner set out in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0132666A1, filed Jan. 10, 2002, entitled “Distributed Account Based GamingSystem.”

It will be appreciated that the particular configuration of devicesshown in FIG. 1 is shown only for purposes of example. A bingo gamingsystem providing a secondary game according to the present invention mayomit some or all of the separate LASs 102 at the various gamingfacilities so that the EPSs 103 communicate directly with CGS 101. Also,various regions or different gaming facilities may be divided up intoseparate systems each having a respective CGS such as CGS 101. In thesesituations, the system could be configured such that a single EPS 103may be serviced by any of the CGSs. Furthermore, a gaming systemproviding a secondary game according to the present invention mayinclude multiple CGSs rather than a single CGS 101 as shown in FIG. 1.

It should again be noted that although the bingo gaming system shown inFIGS. 1 through 3 provides a convenient gaming system example throughwhich the present secondary game system may be described, the presentinvention is by no means limited to use in bingo gaming systems. Rather,the present secondary game system may be used in connection with anytype of gaming system providing the required multiple instances of aprimary game. For example, the primary game may comprise an electroniclottery-type game in which players receive one or more lottery resultsin response to a game play request. Such a lottery-type game may have anetwork topography similar to that used for the bingo system shown inFIG. 1. In the case of the electronic lottery system, however, CGS 101might function as a component for generating and storing/archivingelectronic lottery ticket sets and each LAS 102 might function to manageplayer accounts and hold sets or subsets of electronic lottery ticketslocally. The electronic lottery system would also include EPSs 103 toprovide a player interface for entering game play requests and receivingboth the primary game results and secondary game results according tothe present invention.

The present invention is also not limited to a single type of primarygame for providing primary game results. That is, in someimplementations of the present invention, a single set of multipleprimary game instances may include instances of one game type, such as alottery-type game, and instances of an entirely different type of game,such as a bingo-type game. As used in the following discussion and inthe claims, it will be understood that references to multiple instancesof a primary game and multiple results from a primary game will includethe situation in which the multiple instances/results are all associatedwith different respective games or game types. References to multipleinstances of a primary game and multiple results from a primary gamewill also encompass the situation in which each instance of the multipleinstances and each result is associated with the same game or game type,and the situation in which some instances/results of the multipleinstances are associated with one game or game type and others areassociated with another game or game type.

Although the example gaming systems described above with reference toFIG. 1 each comprise a network gaming system, the secondary game systemaccording to the present invention is not limited to network gamingsystems. The present invention may be implemented in a stand alonegaming device that does not communicate with any other device to obtainresults in a primary game. In the case of a stand alone gaming deviceimplementation of the present invention, the stand alone player stationwould implement the processors or controllers required to generateresults in the primary game, and would also implement the game processoraccording to the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a process of providing a secondary game according tothe invention based upon multiple instances of one or more primarygames. As indicated at process block 400, a player first initiates anumber of game play requests in the primary game. This initiation ofgame play requests is preferably performed in response to one or moreinputs made by the player at a suitable player station. For example, inthe networked gaming system shown in FIG. 1, a player may initiate gameplay requests through an EPS 103. Regardless of the specific manner inwhich a player initiates game play requests as indicated at processblock 400, each game play request represents a request for a play in aprimary game. Assuming that the game play request is a proper request, aprimary game result will be correlated to the game play request andassociated game play. In the terminology adopted for purposes of thisdisclosure and accompanying claims, each game play request is a requestfor an instance of the primary game.

It will be appreciated that there may be very wide variations in thespecific steps and processes used in a primary game to initiate thevarious game play requests in the primary game as indicated at block400. For example, where the primary game comprises a bingo-type game,each game play request may require a separate set of substeps includingassigning or selecting a bingo card representation for the game playrequest, defining a wager for the game play request, and then submittingthe game play request. Alternatively, the primary game interface mayallow the player to define/assign bingo card representations and definewagers for multiple game play requests and then make a single final“submit” or “play” entry to submit multiple game play requestsconcurrently. Of course, where the primary game comprises a game otherthan a bingo-type game, the game play request initiation step shown atblock 400 in FIG. 4 may be significantly simplified. For example, wherethe primary game comprises a lottery-type game, initiating a game playrequest may include simply defining a wager and activating a “play”button or other control, or, where the wager is predefined, simplyactivating a “play” control. Also, some primary games may allow a playerto make multiple game play requests with a single input at a suitableplayer station.

It will be appreciated that the initiation of game play requests in theprimary game as indicated at process block 400 in FIG. 4 will commonlyresult in one or more communications in the particular gaming system.For example, each game play request in a bingo-type gaming system willcommonly include a communication that includes a wager amount anddefines or identifies a bingo card representation associated with therequest. The identified bingo card representation comprises the bingocard that is to be placed in play in the bingo-type game at the givenwager amount. In a lottery-type gaming system, a game play request mayproduce a communication that includes an identifier for a particularlottery game that may be available to the player among many differentlottery games. Such a lottery game identifier allows the gaming systemfor the primary game to select a lottery ticket record from the correctelectronic lottery ticket set/subset. The communications representing orresulting from the initiation of a game play request may also includeother system related information such as an identifier for the playerstation from which the request originates, time of request information,and other information. The destination of the communication orcommunications associated with a game play request will also depend uponthe nature of the primary game and gaming system which implements theprimary game. In the bingo-type gaming system example shown in FIG. 1,the game play request is communicated to a system component that isresponsible for conducting a bingo game and identifying a result for thegame play request. This component may comprise CGS 101 or an LAS 102 asdescribed above in relation to FIG. 1. In a lottery-type gaming system,a lottery game play request may be communicated to a lottery resultserver that is responsible for assigning lottery records/electronictickets for each incoming game play request. Such a lottery resultserver may be implemented in a component separate from the playerstation from which the request originates, or may be implemented at theplayer station itself.

The example process shown in FIG. 4 includes a step of linking locationsin the secondary game structure with particular instances of the primarygame as shown at process block 401. This process block 401 reflects thefact that, according to the present invention, each location in thegiven secondary game structure is preferably linked with, that is,correlated with, at least one instance of the primary game. As will bediscussed further below, this linking between instances of the primarygame and locations of the secondary game structure allows the state ofthe various locations in the secondary game structure to be affected bythe results from the primary game. However, it should be noted that thelinking step shown in FIG. 4 need not be apparent to the player and maybe fixed prior to initiating the game play requests in the primary gameor games. For example, assume that in a given implementation of thepresent invention, the secondary game structure comprises a 3×3bingo-type grid. In this example, the present invention may includelinking each respective location in this 3×3 grid with a respectiveinstance of the primary game, and thus, linking each grid location witha respective game play request initiated as indicated at block 400. Thelinking of one game play request and instance of the primary game toeach grid location may be predefined such that a first game play requestis linked to a first grid location, a second game play request is linkedto a second grid location, and so on. Alternatively, the linking may beperformed randomly or according to some algorithm by a suitableprocessing arrangement either before or after the results in the primarygame have been identified. As yet another alternative, a player may beallowed to manually make the links between instances of the primary gameand locations of the secondary game structure. The invention encompassesproviding a player interface to allow the player to manually linkrespective instances of the primary game to respective locations of thesecondary game structure by associating respective game play requests inthe primary game to respective secondary game structure locations. Inany event, the linking indicated at block 401 allows the gaming systemto control the state of the various locations in the secondary gamestructure based on the results in the various instances of the primarygame.

As indicated at process block 402 in FIG. 4, the present inventionrequires identifying the result for each instance of the primary gamethat is linked to a location of the secondary game structure. The mannerin which primary game results are identified will depend upon the natureof the respective primary game. In a lottery-type game for example,identifying a result in a given instance of the game may require simplyreading a result or result code associated with a lottery ticket recordthat was assigned for the given instance of the primary game. In thebingo-type gaming system shown for example in FIGS. 1 through 3,identifying a result in each instance of the game involves conducting abingo designation draw, daubing the bingo card representation, analyzingmatched bingo card locations to identify any winning patterns ofmatches, and looking up the result associated with any identifiedwinning pattern. Identifying a bingo result may also require waiting fora player response to claim the bingo result. As discussed above inconnection with FIG. 1, this analysis and identification of bingoresults is preferably performed by a game processor implemented at CGS101, although the processes may alternatively be performed by a gameprocessor implemented at a respective LAS 102.

As indicated at process block 403 in FIG. 4, the invention includesapplying the primary game results from the multiple instances of theprimary game to control the states of the various locations in thesecondary game structure. This application of primary game results maybe accomplished in many different ways within the scope of the presentinvention. In one preferred form of the invention, each primary gameresult is associated with a result identifier. Each different resultidentifier may be associated with data indicating the state of therespective secondary game structure location dictated by the respectiveresult. For example, each possible result identifier may be correlatedto a respective state identifier through a suitable data structure. Inthis example, applying the primary game result to control the state of alocation in the secondary game structure includes using the resultidentifier to look up the corresponding state identifier and thenassigning that state identifier to the location in the secondary gamestructure to which the primary game result is linked. The assigned stateidentifier then controls the state of that secondary game structurelocation. Alternatively, each result identifier for a result in theprimary game may be directly correlated in a suitable fashion to a statefor a location of a secondary game structure. In this alternative,applying the primary game result to control the state of the location inthe secondary game structure may involve simply assigning the resultidentifier to respective secondary game structure location.

In forms of the invention in which two or more primary game resultscontrol the state of a given location in the secondary game structure,further operations may be required to apply the primary game results asindicated at process block 403. For example, the rules of a particularimplementation according to the present invention may be that the stateof a given secondary game structure location is dependent upon acumulative prize value associated with two or more primary game results.In this example, applying the primary game results may includecalculating the cumulative prize value of the two or more primary gameresults linked to the given secondary game structure location, and thenlooking up a state identifier correlated with the calculated valuethrough a suitable data structure. The state identifier may then beassigned to location to which the two or more primary game results arelinked. In yet another example within the scope of the presentinvention, two primary game results could be logically ORed such that agiven primary game result in either instance of the primary gameproduces a given state in the secondary game structure location to whichthe two primary game results are linked.

Once the primary game results are applied according to the applicablerules for the given implementation of the invention, the inventionincludes identifying the result of the secondary game. This step isindicated at block 404 in FIG. 4. After identifying the result for thesecondary game, any prizes associated with the result may be awarded tothe player as indicated at process block 406.

Results in the secondary game are based on the state of at least onerespective location in the secondary game structure. Thus, the step ofidentifying the result of the secondary game includes analyzing thestate of at least one location in the secondary game structure. Forexample, the secondary game according to the invention may be defined asproviding a winning result if one location in the secondary gamestructure is at a given state. As another example, a secondary gameaccording to the invention may be defined as providing a winning resultif multiple locations, such as a row or column of locations, are each atsome respective state. Specific examples of secondary game structuresand location states will be described below with reference to FIGS. 5and 6.

The results may be identified in the secondary game in any number offashions within the scope of the invention. In one preferredarrangement, a suitable data structure includes an entry that defineseach winning pattern of location states for the secondary game, andcorrelates each winning pattern to a prize value in the secondary game.The step of identifying the result of the secondary game in thisarrangement includes comparing the pattern of secondary game locationstates defined by the applying the primary game results at process block403 to the table of winning secondary structure patterns and noting anymatches. The prize value for any matched pattern from the table ofwinning patterns would represent the prize for the secondary game andwould be awarded as indicated at process block 406.

As discussed above, each game play request in the primary game may beassociated with a separate wager in the primary game. The wager amountfor each game play request may be the same or may vary among thedifferent game play requests initiated as indicated at block 400 in FIG.4. In either case, some forms of the present invention use a portion ofthe money wagered by a player in each instance of the primary game to atleast partially fund a prize available in the secondary game. Forexample, a fraction of a player's wager, such as 5% or 10% may bedevoted to a bonus prize fund. Such a bonus prize fund may also beseeded with a seed amount provided by the gaming system operator. Bonusprizes that are awarded in the secondary game as indicated at processblock 406 may comprise fixed amounts for certain secondary game results.Alternatively, bonus prizes awarded for the secondary game may comprisesome percentage of the account that has been built up by primary gamewager contributions similar to a progressive game. Contributions fromprimary game wagers at numerous different player stations may allowlarge secondary game prizes to be awarded.

In some preferred implementations of the present invention, a given setof instances of a primary game are applied to control the states oflocations in the secondary game structure to define a single instance ofthe secondary game. After the single instance of the secondary game, theentire secondary game structure is cleared and then another set ofinstances of the primary game are applied to the secondary gamestructure. Another preferred form of the invention allows a player tocontinue play in the secondary game without resetting the state of thelocations in the secondary game structure. After a first set ofinstances of the primary game are applied to a secondary game structure,the player may be given the option of choosing to apply additionalinstances in the primary game to control the states of one or morelocations in the secondary game structure, while leaving other secondarygame structure locations in the state dictated by an instance of theprimary game from the first set of primary game instances. In either ofthese implementations according to the invention, a player participatingin a primary game is encouraged to participate in more instances of theprimary game in order to have a chance at a result in the secondarygame.

It should be noted that the present invention does not require that themultiple game play requests indicated at block 400 be initiatedsimultaneously in one step. Rather, initiating the multiple game playrequests as indicated at block 400 may include initiating a first gameplay request and receiving a result for the game play request,initiating a second game play request and receiving a result for thegame play request, and so forth until all of the results for the primarygame which are linked to the secondary game structure have beenidentified. At that time, the present invention may include translatingthe primary game results as indicated at block 403 to control the stateof each secondary game structure location, determining the result of thesecondary game as indicated at decision block 404, and awarding anyprize in the secondary game as indicated at block 406. Alternatively,multiple game play requests are initiated concurrently in one or moreprimary games, and the concurrently identified results from the primarygame are applied to the secondary game structure and evaluated withrespect to the secondary game structure to determine the result of thesecondary game.

It will also be noted that the number of game play requests initiated atstep 400 in FIG. 4 may depend on the particular secondary game structureused according to the present invention and the manner in which theinstances of the primary game are linked to the various locations of thesecondary game structure. For example, if a player is participating in agame where the secondary game structure is represented by a 3×3 bingocard and each location in that grid is linked to only a single instanceof the primary game, nine different game play requests would be requiredat process block 400 in order to control each secondary game structurelocation. Alternatively, each location in the nine location grid couldbe controlled by, for example, two instances of the primary game. Inthat case, eighteen different game play requests would be required atprocess block 400 to control each location in the secondary gamestructure.

Some preferred forms of the present secondary game invention employ asecondary game structure that includes secondary game structurelocations that are all capable of being controlled by one or moreinstances of a primary game. However, other forms of the presentinvention apply instances of a primary game to control less than alllocations of a secondary game structure. For example, a secondary gamestructure may comprise a traditional 5×5 bingo grid structure with a“Free” space in the middle of the grid. In this case, the “Free” spacewould not be linked to an instance of the primary game. Another examplesecondary game structure may comprise a representation of a reel-typegame having a number of reels and reel symbol locations to define one ormore paylines. The reel symbol locations represent secondary gamestructure locations. In this example, all of the reel symbol locationsmay be controlled by one or more instances of the primary game. However,some implementations may control only a limited subset of reel symbollocations by linked instances of the primary game. The symbols thatappear at the other reel symbol locations may be controlled in anysuitable manner. For example, the reel symbol locations that are notlinked to be controlled by one or more instances of the primary game maybe controlled to present reel symbols randomly for each instance of thesecondary game.

It will be appreciated that the process steps described above withreference to FIG. 4 are preferably performed by various processingelements included in a gaming system or device that implements thepresent invention. In some preferred forms of the invention, one or moregeneral purpose processors are used to provide the required dataprocessing under the control of operational program code. Other forms ofthe invention may employ special purpose processing devices that do notutilize operational program code to direct the required data processing.In the example gaming system shown in FIG. 1, initiating game playrequests in the primary game is controlled through a processing deviceat an EPS 103, such as processor 300 shown in FIG. 3. Any linking oflocations in a secondary game structure to instances of the primary gameas indicated at process block 401 in FIG. 4 may be performed by a gameprocessor under the control of result coordinating program code wherethe game processor comprises a general processing device. This gameprocessor may also be implemented through processor 300 shown in FIG. 3.Identifying primary game results may be performed by the game processoror by a separate processor. As indicated above, CGS 101 or an LAS 102,and more particularly a processing device associated with one of thesecomponents, such as a processor 200 shown in FIG. 2, may be responsiblefor identifying the primary game results. The game processor may receiveprimary game results from the component that identifies the results andapply those results to control the state of the linked locations of thesecondary game structure as indicated at process block 403 in FIG. 4.The game processor may also identify the secondary game result from thestates of the various secondary game structure locations as indicated atprocess block 404, and award secondary game prizes as indicated atprocess block 406. However, other forms of the present invention mayemploy the same processing device that identifies primary game resultsto also apply those results as shown at 403 in FIG. 4, identify thesecondary game result as shown at block 404, and award the secondarygame prize as indicated at block 406. Yet other forms of the inventionmay use a separate processing device for each of the steps indicated atblock 402, 403, 404, and 406 in FIG. 4. Regardless of how the process isseparated across different processing elements, the steps of applyingthe primary game results and identifying the secondary game result maybe performed under the control of secondary game program code where theprocessing device or devices are general purpose processors.

The manner in which the process steps shown in FIG. 4 are distributedacross different components in a networked implementation of theinvention will have an impact in the types of communications requiredbetween components to implement a secondary game according to theinvention. In embodiments in which the game processor is implemented atthe player station such as an EPS 103 in FIG. 1, the communications fromthe primary game result determining component such as CGS 101 to theplayer station may be limited to communications of the primary gameresults that have been identified. The EPS based game processor in suchan implementation would preferably apply the primary game results to thesecondary game structure, identify the secondary game result, and couldalso award any secondary game prize correlated to that secondary gameresult. Also, the EPS processor would send instructions to the displaydevice associated with the EPS, such as display device 305 in FIG. 3, tocause the display device to produce the desired secondary game graphicsat the player station. The EPS processor may be configured to generatethese display controlling instructions directly or through a suitablegraphics processor included at the EPS.

Communications to the player station such as EPS 103 in networked gamingsystem 100 may be quite different where the game processor functions areperformed at a processing device separate from the player station. Inthis type of implementation, where the primary game results are appliedto the secondary game structure and the result of the secondary game isidentified at a processing device separate from the player station, onlythe secondary game result need be communicated to the player station.However, preferred forms of the present secondary game invention willalso communicate sufficient data or instructions to the player stationto allow the player station to produce the particular secondary gamestructure graphics through the player station display. In thesecentralized game processor forms of the invention, the award associatedwith a secondary game result could be communicated to the player stationor the player station could look up the award using table stored at theplayer station correlating secondary game results with secondary gameprizes. Of course, even where the secondary game processor isimplemented through a network component separate form the playerstations themselves, the primary game results are still preferablycommunicated to the player station in some fashion so that the playerstation can communicate the results to the player through the displaydevice associated with the player station.

FIG. 5 shows a graphic representation of an embodiment of the inventionwhere the secondary game structure comprises a standard 5×5 bingo cardgrid shown on a display screen 500. This display screen may comprise thedisplay associated with an EPS 103 shown particularly in FIG. 3. In thisembodiment, display screen 500 shows three separate graphic elements. Afirst graphic element comprises a bingo card representation 501 thatmakes up the secondary game structure. A second graphic element 505comprises a secondary game outcome display. The third graphic elementcomprises a primary game result display 506. Bingo card representation501 includes twenty-five locations 502 numbered 1 through 25 in thelower left hand corner of each location for purposes of thisdescription. Each one of these locations 502 may be placed alternativelyin different graphic states according to the present invention. Inparticular, each location 502 may initially appear blank. However, afterapplying the primary game result or results that are linked to arespective location, the state of the location may be changed to acondition that indicates the location is daubed in a manner commonlyused in bingo-type games. In the particular example of FIG. 5, the daubmark appears as an X over the respective location. The pattern producedby these daub markings after applying all of the primary game resultslinked to the locations of the bingo card secondary game structure 501defines the result of the secondary game and may correlate to asecondary game prize.

To illustrate a more concrete example of the invention, assume eachlocation 502 in the bingo card representation 501 making up thesecondary game structure is linked to a single instance of the primarygame. Also assume that the primary game comprises a bingo-type game inwhich a variety of prizes are awarded for different patterns achievedduring the course of the underlying bingo game for a respective bingocard entered in a bingo game. Assume further that the secondary gamerules according to the present invention dictate that if the linkedinstance of the primary game achieves any prize winning pattern, thatprimary game result will be applied to produce a daub at that respectivelocation 502, and that otherwise the respective location 502 will remainundaubed. Assume also that a prize will be awarded in the secondary gamein the event that any straight line bingo pattern is achieved in thesecondary game structure/bingo card representation 501. Given theserules and assumptions, assume further that a player participates in agroup of twenty-five separate instances of a first bingo game andachieves a winning result only in instances 5, 7, 11, 15, 21, 22, 23,24, and 25. The remainder of the instances of the primary game achievedno winning pattern.

Under all of these assumptions and rules, a secondary game according tothe present invention would result in a secondary game structure in thecondition shown in FIG. 5. That is, the locations 502 linked to primarygame instances 5, 7, 11, 15, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25 are daubed while theremaining locations in structure 501 remain undaubed. Since the entirefifth column in structure 501 is daubed, this instance of the secondarygame produces a win in the secondary game and entitles the player to asecondary game prize. In the example shown in FIG. 5, secondary gameresult display 505 displays a message indicating the result of thesecondary game. The message may include a message showing the secondarygame prize that has been awarded. In the event that there is no win inthe secondary game, result display area 505 could display a messageencouraging a player to play again, that is, obtain results for multipleinstances of the primary game in order to have a chance in the secondarygame.

The example display shown in FIG. 5 provides a separate area, primarygame results display 506, for showing the individual results in thedifferent instances of the primary game or games. In this example, thedisplay 506 sequentially shows the result of each respective instance ofthe primary game. The particular display in the drawing shows the resultof instance 25 of the primary bingo game. It will be appreciated,however, that numerous graphic presentations may be used alternativelyto show the player both the results in the primary game and the resultsin the secondary game. For example, in one form of the invention, theplayer's display may be controlled, either by the player or otherwise,to toggle back and forth between a full-screen display showing theresult of a single instance of the primary game, and then the secondarygame structure as it is modified by the results that have thus far beendisplayed for the primary game. In other implementations, a full-screendisplay may be used to show the result in each primary game instance andthe secondary game structure may be displayed only after each primarygame result has been displayed. Forms of the invention may even show thesecondary game structure and result before any of the primary gameresults are shown to the player.

FIG. 6 shows an alternate display 600 for a secondary game within thescope of the invention. In this display, the secondary game structureimitates a reel-type game having reels 601, 602, 603, 604, and 605. Eachreel corresponds to a respective result in a bingo-type primary game.Thus, the display shown in FIG. 6 includes graphic elements 606, 607,608, 609, and 610 each providing a display area for showing the resultin the primary bingo-type game. Display 600 also includes a secondarygame outcome display 611. In this reel-type secondary game, a winningpattern in the primary bingo-type game may relate to a particular reelsymbol. The respective reel symbol appearing on the single horizontalpayline through the five reels represents the state of the respectivelocation in the secondary game structure. For example, as shown by FIG.6, reels 601, 602, and 605 are shown with a “BAR” symbol, whichcorresponds to a straight line bingo result in the correspondinginstances of the primary game, shown respectively at bingo card graphics606, 607, and 610. Reel 604 displays a double bar symbol thatcorresponds to a “T” pattern in the corresponding instance of theprimary game shown on bingo card representation 609, and reel 603 showsa “7” that corresponds to an indeterminate result in the respectiveinstance of the primary game shown on bingo card representation 608. Inthis example, it is assumed that the result of three “BAR” symbolsacross the payline produces a winning combination worth 50 credits.Thus, secondary game result display area 611 shows a suitable graphicadvising the player that they have won 50 credits as a result of thesecondary game. The patterns, symbols, and corresponding results shownin FIGS. 5 and 6 are presented for illustrative purposes only and arenot meant to limit the scope of the invention.

The above-described preferred embodiments are intended to illustrate theprinciples of the invention and are not meant to limit the scope of theinvention. Various other embodiments and modifications to thesepreferred embodiments may be made by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. For example, althougha particular hardware arrangement is shown for purposes of describingthe invention, it will be appreciated that numerous hardwarearrangements are possible for implementing the present invention. Also,although the operational software-controlled process steps are describedas occurring at certain processing elements in the system, theprocessing steps may be distributed in any suitable fashion over variousdata processing elements.

1. A method including: (a) conducting multiple instances of a primarygame to produce multiple primary game results, each instance of theprimary game being linked to a respective location in a secondary gamestructure for a secondary game; (b) applying the primary game result foreach respective instance of the primary game to control the state of therespective location in the secondary game structure linked to thatrespective instance of the primary game; and (c) identifying a result ofthe secondary game based on the state of at least one respectivelocation in the secondary game structure.
 2. The method of claim 1wherein the primary game is a bingo game.
 3. The method of claim 1wherein the primary game is a lottery game.
 4. The method of claim 1wherein the secondary game structure is a representation of a bingocard.
 5. The method of claim 4 wherein a predetermined result in arespective instance of the primary game daubs the respective location inthe secondary game structure linked to that respective instance of theprimary game.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the secondary, gamestructure is a representation of reel-type game.
 7. The method of claim6 wherein a predetermined result in a respective instance of the primarygame causes a particular reel symbol to be displayed at the respectivelocation in the secondary game structure linked to that respectiveinstance of the primary game.
 8. The method of claim 1 further includingthe steps of: (a) applying a portion of a wager for participating inmultiple instances of the primary game to at least partially fund abonus prize available in the secondary game; and (b) awarding the bonusprize to a player in response to the result of the secondary game. 9.The method of claim 8 wherein the result of the secondary game isdefined by a pattern of locations in the secondary game structure. 10.The method of claim 1 wherein two or more instances of the primary gameare each linked to the respective location in the secondary gamestructure for the secondary game and the primary game results of the twoor more instances of the primary game control the state of therespective location in the secondary game structure linked to thoserespective instances of the primary game.
 11. A program product storedon one or more computer readable media, the program product including:(a) result coordinating program code executable for linking eachrespective instance of a primary game to a respective location in asecondary game structure for a secondary game; (b) secondary gameprogram code executable for applying the primary game result for eachrespective instance of the primary game to control the state of therespective location in the secondary game structure linked to thatrespective instance of the primary game, and for identifying a result ofthe secondary game based on the state of at least one respectivelocation in the secondary game structure.
 12. The program product ofclaim 11 wherein: (a) the result coordinating program code links two ormore instances of the primary game to at least one respective locationin the secondary game structure for a secondary game; and (b) thesecondary game program code applies the primary game results of the twoor more instances of the primary game to control the state of therespective location in the secondary game structure linked to thoserespective instances of the primary game.
 13. The program product ofclaim 11 wherein each respective instance of the primary game that islinked to a respective location in the secondary game structure isassociated with a common game play input for play in the primary game.14. The program product of claim 11 wherein each respective instance ofthe primary game that is linked to a respective location in thesecondary game structure is associated with a respective distinct gameplay input for play in the primary game.
 15. The program product ofclaim 11 wherein secondary game structure is a bingo card representationand the secondary game program code controls the state of the respectivelocation in the secondary game structure linked to that respectiveinstance of the primary game by causing the respective location in bingocard representation to be daubed.
 16. The program product of claim 11wherein secondary game structure is a reel-type game representation andthe secondary game program code controls the state of the respectivelocation in the secondary game structure linked to that respectiveinstance of the primary game by causing the respective location inreel-type game representation to show a particular reel symbol.
 17. Agaming apparatus including: (a) a game processor for (i) receiving anumber of primary game results, each respective primary game resultcorresponding to a respective instance of a primary game, for (ii)applying the primary game result for each respective instance of theprimary game to control the state of a respective location in asecondary game structure to which the respective primary game result islinked, and for (iii) identifying a result in a secondary game based onthe state of at least one location in the secondary game structure; and(b) a player display operatively connected to the game processor fordisplaying the secondary game structure.
 17. The gaming apparatus ofclaim 16 wherein the player display is also for displaying the primarygame result for each instance of the primary game.
 18. The gamingapparatus of claim 16 wherein the player display is associated with anelectronic player station having an electronic player station processingdevice in communication with the game processor.
 19. The gamingapparatus of claim 18 further including a number of additionalelectronic player stations, each electronic player station being incommunication with the game processor and each additional electronicplayer station including a respective player display.
 20. The apparatusof claim 16 wherein the game processor is also for linking eachrespective instance of the primary game to the respective location ofthe secondary game structure.